Media outlets access enhanced multi-platform content at no charge, with alerts when we have new content on issues or from regions you may select. Once we receive the filled out form below, you'll receive a message with the passcode/s. Welcome!

*These fields are required

*Media Outlet name

*Media Outlet City/State

Contact name

Contact phone

*Email address or fax #

*Media Outlet type

Additional (beyond the state you are located in) content that you would like to receive

Newscasts

PNS Daily Newscast - November 19, 2018.

More than 1,200 missing in the California wildfires. Also on the Monday rundown: A pair of reports on gun violence in the nation; and concerns that proposed changes to 'Green Card' rules favor the wealthy.

"Screen-Free Week" Starts Today: What to Do without the PDA?

April 18, 2011

AUSTIN, Texas - Turn off your tablet, step away from the computer and pull the plug on the TV. Texans are being challenged to do that for a week in a nationwide campaign to alert families to the enormous amount of time they spend with electronic entertainment.

Screen-Free Week, April 18-24, is an effort to encourage parents and their kids to get outside for some physical recreation, take in a community event or just stop texting all the time. Jaci Clement with the Fair Media Council admits it won't be easy.

"I think people would probably try to kill you if you cut off their access entirely."

Instead, parents are encouraged to cut back on their own smartphone tapping, to set an example for their children.

Families looking to share their screen-free experience can participate in planned activities or register their own events. Organizers of Screen-Free Week provide activity guides and toolkits for those who can't think of what to do without electronics - including a list of Texas events. Granted, they will need to power up long enough to access the website.

Dana Friedman of the Early Years Institute says while the focus of Screen-Free Week is children, parents have to realize they need to set an example, if their families are not going to turn into uncommunicative, overweight couch potatoes.

"We've all had the experience of walking into a restaurant and seeing mom on her BlackBerry, texting, and dad on the cell phone, and each of the kids has some electronic device. They sit down at the meal and nobody talks to each other."

Clement says Screen-Free Week aims at helping young people balance their interest in technology with getting out and spending time with people.

"The real goal is to get people to realize how much time they spend watching television or playing on their hand-held or sitting behind a computer screen."

Friedman urges parents to step up and acknowledge their own electronic dependency issues.

"Part of the reason why young children don't go outside is because adults don't take them. And a lot of what parents are doing is checking their BlackBerrys nonstop, or they're on the computer themselves."